You will need

black craft foam, cut into a square slightly less than the size of the jello box

various small wooden shapes (pre-packaged at Michael's)

various shapes and sizes of craft foam (buy sheets of various colors and cut out shapes)

markers

Directions

Note: We did steps 1-4 the day before the party. On the day of the party, we had the blank control panels ready, along with all the materials needed for decoration.

Take the bag of jello powder out of one 6 oz box of jello. You don't need the powder for the project but you do need the box. Glue the top of the cardboard box shut. (Use rubber bands to hold the top down while the glue dries.)

Poke a hole in the styrofoam ball. Insert straw. We used glue to secure the straw.

Spray-paint the box silver on all sides. Spray-paint the straw/ball combo (aka antenna) on all sides. (This took several spray-painting sessions.)

Place the antenna on the back of the box. Secure with a big piece of foil tape. We did a big square of tape that covered the entire back of the box.

Glue the square of black craft foam onto the front of the control panel.

Now you have blank control panels that are ready to be "programmed and configured." (Be sure to use these terms with your small superhero: this is a very technical business.)

Ask the superhero to decorate the control panel with his or her choice of buttons and dials. Be sure to create funtions for each button. (i.e., this one generates a force field, this one shoots a laser, etc...)

Matt James is a professional event planner and owner of event agency Left Field Productions, which has produced events for Elton John, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kevin Spacey, Stella McCartney, David LaChapelle, John Waters, and Elvis Costello & Diana Krall. Since 2004, Left Field Productions has won 30 industry awards for excellence including Production Company of the Year.